Town Employees

West IN THE MONEY. The Town Council last week unanimously approved a $699,457 budget for the fiscal year starting today. The budget includes more money for Windermere Public Library and a 5 percent to 7 percent raise for most town employees. Included is an 11 percent increase in property taxes, which means the owner of a $100,000 home will pay about $25 more next year in taxes to support the town. No one opposed the budget during a special town meeting Tuesday night.

LADY LAKE -- Town employees are getting a little gift just in time for the holidays. Town commissioners got into the spirit of giving: They bestowed on employees two extra days off this month for Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. More than half of the town's employees voted for the days off after officials let them decide what they wanted their holiday bonus to be: two paid days off for Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve or extra cash in...

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador -- About 100 people armed with sticks and stones broke into a town hall to demand relief aid Thursday. Salvadorans have largely tried to pull together to rebuild from massive earthquakes in January and February. But emotions boiled over among quake victims in the town of Nahuizalco, about 40 miles west of the capital. The protesters, mainly farmers, broke down the door of the town hall and pelted some town employees with stones as they demanded aid for outlying communities, local police said.

LADY LAKE -- John Travolta and his family thanked town employees in a letter for their support following the death of the actor's son in January. The note, signed by John, Kelly and Ella Travolta, expressed the family's appreciation for Lady Lake's "thoughts and prayers" after 16-year-old Jett Travolta died in the Bahamas. Town employees sent a card to the family in the days following news of Jett's death. "This is a time that we've needed our friends and family more than ever and this is a time that you were there and thinking of us," the Travoltas' letter reads.

Amid shouts for a recall and accusations of petty politics, town council members refused Monday night to reinstate two veteran town employees they ousted last week.Mayor Abraham Gordon had called a special meeting to reconsider reappointing Phil Harmon as police chief and Ron Rogers as administrative assistant. However, council members ignored pleas from about 50 residents and refused to reinstate the two.''This is a grave mistake that has been done to the town of Eatonville -- a very serious, serious mistake,'' Gordon said.

LADY LAKE -- John Travolta and his family thanked town employees in a letter for their support following the death of the actor's son in January. The note, signed by John, Kelly and Ella Travolta, expressed the family's appreciation for Lady Lake's "thoughts and prayers" after 16-year-old Jett Travolta died in the Bahamas. Town employees sent a card to the family in the days following news of Jett's death. "This is a time that we've needed our friends and family more than ever and this is a time that you were there and thinking of us," the Travoltas' letter reads.

The town council will hold a final public hearing on a $2.4 million budget and a 45 percent tax increase at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the police station.Town officials say the proposed 2 mill increase is needed to pay for salary increases, a pension program for town employees and a general increase in expenses.For the owner of a $53,000 home, the budget could mean a $113 increase in annual town taxes alone. A mill is $1 per $1,000 of taxable property value.The higher millage is expected to generate an additional $81,161 for the town.

Attempts by a council member to glean information about town business drew fire this week from the mayor, who said that kind of meddling in administrative affairs has thrust Eatonville into chaos.Mayor Abraham Gordon told council member Ada Sims that her requests were ''totally out of context'' and should have been addressed to him.Sims had given Town Clerk Ruby Thomas a 15-item list asking for financial information, an update on some employees' work schedules, a work table in town hall for council members, soap, towels and toilet paper for the police station.

I LIVE in Lady Lake and I voted for Ottis Birge when he ran for town commissioner in 1990.In my opinion, this recall action against Mr. Birge is ludicrous. I haven't been able to find anybody who can tell me what he has done wrong. To say that he should be recalled because he talked to town employees and offered suggestions to improve town government doesn't make sense.We know that Mr. Birge doesn't just sit back and go along with the others when votes come up just to keep the peace and be a good old boy. If he thinks something is being done wrong, he says so. He's an independent thinker, and he's working in our best interest.

WINDFALL COMPENSATION. The town council voted 4 to 2 this week to amend the town's personnel manual and pay three former town employees almost $9,000 in accumulated sick leave. Former administrative assistant Ron Rogers, Police Chief Phil Harmon and fire inspector Charles Bargaineer will receive the payments. Under the new policy effective Oct. 1, 1986, appointed officers who have worked for the town for at least five years will be paid for up to 36 days of accumulated sick leave if they are terminated or not reappointed.

LADY LAKE -- Officials will discuss today whether to use more of the town's savings to balance next year's finances. Commissioners will review the proposed budget, which would dig into the town's savings to support town projects, provide for employee raises and cover a predicted $1.3 million revenue shortfall. Town Manager Bill Vance said he predicts the town won't be able to use its savings to balance the budget in future years. The town's reserves will be an estimated $790,000 in 2009, down from about $5 million in 2007.

MONTVERDE -- Troy Bennett is accustomed to working for himself as a private business owner. Now he will have about 1,200 bosses as the new mayor of this small southeast Lake County town. Bennett earned 74 percent of the votes in Tuesday's election to easily defeat challenger and former Town Council member Laura Eldridge. He will be sworn into office at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday along with three people who were unchallenged in this year's races for Town Council -- fellow political newcomers Glenn Burns and Billy Bates, and council incumbent Jim Pierce.

The grass and trees won't get trimmed as much in Apopka. There will be less concrete to patch potholes and sidewalk cracks in Ocoee. Police will chase bad guys and stop-sign runners in older patrol cars in Windermere. These and other belt-tightening measures are rippling across the dozen cities and towns that share the same budget-slashing mandate from the state Legislature that hit Orlando and Orange County governments. Few municipal budgets were spared cost-cutting pangs as the 2007-08 fiscal year began this week.

LADY LAKE -- Higher salaries may be in the future for town employees. The second pitch to spend as much as $23,000 researching salaries will go before the commission tonight. The police union requested the study for its officers, but the town would expand it for all town workers. Commissioners will consider hiring a consultant to compare the pay of Lady Lake's 92 employees to salaries of employees in Lake County's other municipalities. The population of the 12,600-resident town is expected to balloon in the next few years, and town officials want to keep the best workers to serve residents.

MONTVERDE -- Mayor Helen Pearce resigned Monday, citing health problems, while questions linger how this tiny town of about 1,000 residents should be managed. Pearce served on the Town Council for a year before starting nearly three two-year terms as an elected mayor in charge of the town's daily operations with a staff of about a dozen employees. Her seat is up for election again in November. However, Pearce, 75, has been forced to take increasing time away from the job -- recently for two separate weeks -- because of illnesses to which she attributes her decision to step down.

LADY LAKE -- A tall stack of job applications will greet Bill Vance on Monday when he walks into his office at Town Hall to take the helm as manager. Town employees have advertised and collected more than 50 resumes for the human-relations and public-works director positions because they are eager to fill the jobs, which have been open for months. In the six months since commissioners fired former Town Manager Jim Coleman, big projects have been talked about and shoved aside, brought up again and tabled amid talk of waiting for a new town manager.

LADY LAKE -- Town employees are getting a little gift just in time for the holidays. Town commissioners got into the spirit of giving: They bestowed on employees two extra days off this month for Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. More than half of the town's employees voted for the days off after officials let them decide what they wanted their holiday bonus to be: two paid days off for Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve or extra cash in...

LADY LAKE - When a house fire destroyed nearly everything Joanne Miller owned, town employees joined together in the holiday spirit to help rebuild her life.The Nov. 26 blaze ravaged much of Miller's Summerfield mobile home while she was away at one of her two jobs. Then the staff at Lady Lake Town Hall, where Miller has worked as custodian since April, organized a month of collections to provide the 64-year-old woman with everything from home appliances to clothes and cash.``It's so hard when you don't have anything,'' Miller said.

Can Eatonville survive? That is the question residents of that Orange County town, the nation's oldest black municipality, should be asking themselves. Unresolved questions regarding Eatonville's fragile finances and its ability to pay critical expenses are the latest crises to beset the town. During the past two decades the town has endured a wide range of scandals and bitter political fights. Eatonville cannot continue to survive one calamity after another. Saving the town will require residents and elected officials to work together and seek honest answers to key questions that include: Why are Eatonville residents, among the least affluent people in Orange County, paying the highest property tax in the county and exactly what municipal services are they getting for that money?

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador -- About 100 people armed with sticks and stones broke into a town hall to demand relief aid Thursday. Salvadorans have largely tried to pull together to rebuild from massive earthquakes in January and February. But emotions boiled over among quake victims in the town of Nahuizalco, about 40 miles west of the capital. The protesters, mainly farmers, broke down the door of the town hall and pelted some town employees with stones as they demanded aid for outlying communities, local police said.